Woman fumes at neighbour as she will hear in intimate element by way of ‘skinny’ partitions

On May 22, 2024

Living with paper-thin walls can be a right pain in the backside.

From the relentless wails of nippers to domestics, yapping mutts, clattering kitchenware and the buzz of coffee grinders – it’s enough to drive you bonkers when all you’re after is a bit of peace to flick through your novel. But one lass was pushed to her limit by the racket from the flat above, especially when she twigged she could eavesdrop on a rather private aspect of their lives despite reckoning the walls should’ve been chunky enough to keep their business theirs.

Venting on Reddit’s ‘Neighbours From Hell’ thread, the fed-up tenant blasted the steep cost of her digs, questioning the value for money.

In her rant, she wrote: “My complex charges an arm and a leg to live here. A small one bedroom starts at $2100 (£1650) and just goes up from there. I think the two beds are $3500+ (£2750). Parking is $100/month (£79). $500/year amenities fee (£393).”

But what really grinds her gears is overhearing something very personal from the apartment above – their mobile phone buzzing away. “Why can I hear my upstairs neighbour from hell’s phone vibrating? Every move he makes. Stomping and slamming around constantly. A knock on the door down the hall sounds like someone is at my door. What are they doing with all our money? Put some insulation in these walls! ,” she fumed.

In the comments section, many empathised with the nightmare of living in a place where every move of your neighbour is audible. One person shared: “A noisy upstairs neighbour is the worst. I just moved from a 60+ years old apartment complex that had super thin everything too. So much so that even though I was on the top floor, I could easily hear and feel the heavy footsteps of my downstairs neighbours, let alone every little clink and clack of their daily living.”

“It’s so maddening that all these real estate and property companies swindle the public into thinking they’re getting ‘luxury’ housing, but then they build with cheap, rice paper-thin fixtures. I hate living in a system where profit trumps all.”

The original poster responded: “I wear earplugs to sleep and I’m still woken up every single day at 6am with the stomping around. I can actually hear dresser drawers opening and closing as my upstairs neighbour is getting ready for work. My sister just got an apartment on the first floor of a 3-family house. She never hears a thing. I think that’s the way to go next time.”

Another added with a touch of humour: “I live in a 100 year old building with plaster walls and I once excused my neighbour for sneezing.”

Another person shared their harrowing experience, posting: “I lived in a complex once where it was so terribly built that I was having a horrible episode of Mega S***s, and I heard a gentle knock on the bathroom wall from next door and a ‘you okay bro? I wasn’t even doing anything dramatic like groaning or anything. Literally, the neighbour just heard me s*****g horrendously.”